Day 15: Is healthy behavior 'contagious'?

Birds of a Feather by Nomoco

The New York Times recently ran a piece posing the question, Is Happiness Catching? The article interviews Eileen Belloli, one of the participants in the most famous longitudinal heart study ever conducted: The National Heart Institute's Framingham study which has followed 15,000 residents and their descendants, bringing them into a doctor’s office every four years, on average, for a comprehensive physical. The Framingham study is the one that helped doctors and medical researchers understand the relation between cholesterol level and risk of cardiac arrest (total cholesterol level over 150 mg/dl increases likelihood of cardiac infarction). One of the topics that researchers in the study have been looking at, is how social relations affect our habits (both good and bad). Clive Thompson (2009) writes,"by analyzing the Framingham data, Christakis and Fowler say, they have for the first time found some solid basis for a potentially powerful theory in epidemiology: that good behaviors — like quitting smoking or staying slender or being happy — pass from friend to friend almost as if they were contagious viruses. The Framingham participants, the data suggested, influenced one another’s health just by socializing. And the same was true of bad behaviors — clusters of friends appeared to “infect” each other with obesity, unhappiness and smoking. Staying healthy isn’t just a matter of your genes and your diet, it seems. Good health is also a product, in part, of your sheer proximity to other healthy people."

When I was growing up, I was alway urged by my Dad to be careful who I hung out with because I would become like them over time. And he was right. The problem today is that we have a culture where this principle is still at work, but in the opposite direction. By that I mean that as a culture we have "networked" a car-centered, fast-food lifestyle which shapes people's choices and actually limits their physical activity and food choices to a degree. Anyone who tries to step outside that network is met with resistance because it is outside of the norm. Now, there are a network of negative behaviors around us, and they actively define how we live. If you don't believe me, just do two things: (1) Cycle or walk to work one day and don't hide the fact, and (2) when everyone else is eating/drinking [insert dessert dish or alcohol here], refuse to eat any. You will find out very quickly how the pack mentality contributes to network behavior.

After reading this article though, I am more convinced than ever that it is important that I contribute to a positive network by living a healthy life. Cyclo commuting is just one activity that demonstrates, in a tangible way, how easy it is to create positive networks rather than negative ones. The more others see how manageable and enjoyable active transportation is, the more they can picture themselves doing it too. In this vein, I have started urging my students to bring healthy foods to class each week rather than sugar and fat-laden, brain damage inducing, snacks. I have another student who goes outside and walks around vigorously during our lunch break and this has encouraged others to step outside and exercise during the break rather than sitting inside and eating junk. In this way, it is like when birds fly, or cycling in a pack; we slide into the slipstream of others who are moving in a direction that we want to go and this helps us get to our goal as well as become part of that network. But we have to consciously choose where we want to go and locate others in the right 'networks' so that we can 'catch' those positive behaviors and harness them for our own lives.

Miles: 8.25
Stuff I saw: Man on a seated bicycle who zoomed past me on the trail and admired my blinkie light.